I need help with my guinea pigs and bonding

[interestingthoughts]

Last night one of my guinea pigs bit the other. The one that was bitten was 5 months and he was bitten by a guinea pig who was 2 years 10 months. They are both boars. They are normally not aggressive with each other and the teenage one is actually the dominant one. He was bitten in the back near his butt. He bled for a little bit but his bleeding subsided. I have separated them both for now.

I need help with two things: first of all, how should I clean the wound? I dipped a cloth into water last night, and then I dipped the cloth into a salt water since I had seen online that you should clean it with saline. The wound is covered by his fur so it wasn't super bad but I am still quite worried for him since it wasn't a small nip. I will be calling my vet soon but normally they are super busy so I probably can't see them this week.

Second of all, should I put them back together? They normally love each other, especially the 5 month old who got bitten. He really loves his cagemate. He gets excited when he hears his cagemate if they aren't in the same cage and sometimes he will start wheeking. What happens is that my older boar sometimes gets really hormonal/excited and he will start chasing and humping the younger pig for an hour or longer straight but he usually isn't aggressive and trying to bite. Usually if he does get really excited like this(it was normally at night) I would separate them for the night and put them back together in the the morning but there would never be a real fight it would just be a lot of humping. It's very much not like my older guinea pig and beyond that they hump a little but they really mostly like each other. My young guinea pig still bites the bars between them a lot since he really misses his cagemate. I want him to be able to heal and I think at this point if I put them back together they would be fine, I just worry a bit for my younger pig. I also know that if I don't put them together then they will start to grow more distant and not like each other as much. I do want to put them back together at some point though and I do think it would be a good idea.

What do you think I should do? Should I put them back together today?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

A wound need to be disinfected with a saline solution - one teaspoon of salt in boiled water.
If it is bad then he does need to see a vet.

Can you tell us -
How big is their cage? (The actual measurements)
Do all hides have two exits?
Is there multiple of every item in the cage?
How long have they been bonded?

In terms of their relationship, a fight and wounds would, generally speaking, be bond breaking.

You should not repeatedly separate and reintroduce them. They either need to be able to work things out between them or you have to decide their bond is not functional.
You should not separate for chasing and mounting as that is a normal behaviour and repeated separation can do more harm than good to their bond.

Not being together will not make them grow distant as such - they are either compatible and can live together or they aren’t compatible and cannot live together.

I would give them a few days apart to calm down and then if you wish, you can attempt a neutral territory reintroduction. It must be neutral territory, you cannot just put them back in the normal cage together. If their time in neutral territory goes well (you will see dominance), then clean out their normal cage (provided it is big enough) and move them back to it together. If they no longer want to be together then that will become obvious and they would need to remain in separate but side by side cages permanently.
The cage for each single piggy would need to be a minimum of 120x60cm.

Bonds In Trouble
Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

 

[interestingthoughts]

They have 20sq ft of room. They have been bonded for 5 months. My younger one is now 6 months so his hormones are really rising. I have also seen my older one acting a bit more aggressive for some reason. Their hidies do have two exits and they do have multiple of every item. I put them back together but they are doing fine, they just get really riled up. They will just start constantly trying to hump each other and if they see each other's faces they both instantly freak out and start to teeth chatter and do that stare-off thing where two guinea pigs will put their heads up really high. I also feel like they both try to diffuse the situation and sometimes one will put their heads lower trying to signal that they shouldn't be fighting that much. My younger pig is also super defensive and if the other pig tries to come near his face he will 'snap' at him. He won't actually bite but he will give him a face but. They also just hump a lot and rumble strut, its how they get a lot of their energy out. I don't know what to do. I think they will just be a bit tumultous from now on just due to the ages. The younger one also isn't viying for dominance so the older one will probably stay dominant. Otherwise if they are given a distraction or given time to rest they will be calm and fine, they don't hate each other and they can still have their calm moments. I have no idea if this is common I just feel like their bonding session never ended since they rumble strut and hump so much but it also never got aggressive since they just both get excited and start humping a lot.

 

[Piggies&buns]

They have 20sq ft of room. They have been bonded for 5 months. My younger one is now 6 months so his hormones are really rising. I have also seen my older one acting a bit more aggressive for some reason. Their hidies do have two exits and they do have multiple of every item. I put them back together but they are doing fine, they just get really riled up. They will just start constantly trying to hump each other and if they see each other's faces they both instantly freak out and start to teeth chatter and do that stare-off thing where two guinea pigs will put their heads up really high. I also feel like they both try to diffuse the situation and sometimes one will put their heads lower trying to signal that they shouldn't be fighting that much. My younger pig is also super defensive and if the other pig tries to come near his face he will 'snap' at him. He won't actually bite but he will give him a face but. They also just hump a lot and rumble strut, its how they get a lot of their energy out. I don't know what to do. I think they will just be a bit tumultous from now on just due to the ages. The younger one also isn't viying for dominance so the older one will probably stay dominant. Otherwise if they are given a distraction or given time to rest they will be calm and fine, they don't hate each other and they can still have their calm moments. I have no idea if this is common I just feel like their bonding session never ended since they rumble strut and hump so much but it also never got aggressive since they just both get excited and start humping a lot.

This is a normal set of behaviours and dominance. And generally speaking you do not and should not do anything except let them get in with it. It’s only an issue if there is an actual fight or if there are clear signs of bullying (sustained behaviours where one piggy becomes depressed, is losing weight at each weekly weight check due to being chased away from food, never allowed to rest and is incessantly humped)

If you are concerned that their bond is not a happy one then the information in this guide will help you - Bonds In Trouble

It’s possible to carry out one separation for a few days. Let them settle and then do a neutral territory reintroduction. This allows them to make up their mind about whether they want to be together. The reintroduction will either be successful and they can go back together happily or it’ll fail and they would then need to remain separated permanently. It is not something you can do a lot though - it’s a one time separation and reintroduction and then they either stay together or separate from that point.

 

[interestingthoughts]

@Piggies&buns thank you so much for your reassurance. I was worried that my piggies were weirdly aggressive, its just the time in their lives I guess. Thank you so much.